PETALING JAYA: Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, which saw net earnings of RM162.18 million for FY20, has said it is reallocating investments into digital campaigns and e-commerce, given that e-commerce saw a 2.5 times volume growth in 2020 in Malaysia and Singapore.
Managing director Stefano Clini (pix) said it is also considering an in-house e-commerce platform, but noted that it makes more sense to invest into existing platforms that already have the infrastructure. Amid a weaker volume environment, Carlsberg is investing ahead of the rebound, especially in advertising and promotions.
“We’ve been attentive to costs in 2020 and we’ve reduced costs across the board, including marketing, but we’ve increased it again in Q4’20. We’re more interested in growing value for the long term rather than a specific quarter and we have to keep nurturing our brands. We want to keep investing, compatible to the (Covid-19) situation improving in 2021,“ he said at a virtual media and analyst briefing today after announcing Carlsberg’s Q4 results.
“We remain bullish about the company’s fundamentals and our prospects for the long term. We believe Covid-19 (outlook) is bleak in a way (as) it sips away demands but that does not change our long term prospects and therefore our interest to keep growing and investing in Malaysia,“ Clini stressed.
Carlsberg’s net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 declined 45% to RM37.95 million from RM69 million a year ago impacted by one-off restructuring costs. Its revenue fell 17.7% to RM472.54 million from RM573.92 million affected by significantly lower on-trade consumption and the later timing of Chinese New Year trade-loading in Q4’20.
For FY20, its net profit dropped 44.3% to RM162.18 million from RM291.02 million; while revenue fell 20.9% to RM1.79 billion from RM2.26 billion, due to the upshot of a seven-week brewery suspension in Malaysia and several limitations imposed to on-trade businesses during the implementation of movement controls in Malaysia and circuit breaker in Singapore since March and April respectively.
In addition, the group also recognised a one-off RM6.4 million settlement with the Royal Malaysian Customs in June 2020 and a RM9.9 million restructuring costs in Q4’20. Excluding both of these, organic net profit would have been RM174.6 million, a decline of 40%.
The group has declared a single tier interim dividend of 10 sen per share. It also proposed a final single tier dividend of 30 sen per share, subject to the shareholders’ approval at the forthcoming AGM. The total declared and proposed dividends for FY20 is 40 sen per share, equivalent to a RM122.3 million payment of the group’s FY20 net profit, representing 75.4% of the group’s FY20 net profit.
In light of the re-imposition of the second MCO in Malaysia since January this year, the group anticipates a muted recovery in ontrade sales as well as other factors such as weak macroeconomic conditions and financial challenges that many F&B operators are facing to stay afloat. Limitations set on Chinese New Year reunions, dining-out and travels had also adversely impacted many businesses.
“We are however hopeful that the national Covid-19 vaccination plans that are expected to start in Malaysia from end February and have already started in Singapore will curtail Covid-19 infections and lead to better economic recovery in the second half of 2021,” Clini added.
